Extremist group takes more towns in Syria BEIRUT (AP) — One after another, Syrian towns and villages along the Euphrates River bordering Iraq fell to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on Thursday, as rebel factions affiliated with tribes in the area gave up the fight against the powerful extremist group, activists said. They said the jihadi group -- which has seized vast swaths of Syria and Iraq -- is now in almost full control of a corridor stretching from the Syrian border town of Boukamal to the government-controlled provincial capital of Deir el-Zour to the northwest. Led by an ambitious Iraqi militant known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant this week unilaterally declared the establishment of an Islamic state, or caliphate, in the lands it has seized in northeastern Syria and northern Iraq. It also proclaimed al-Baghdadi the head of its new self-styled state governed by Shariah law and demanded that all Muslims pledge allegiance to him. The new developments effectively expand and consolidate areas held by the group -- which has shorted its name to the Islamic State -- in territory straddling the border between the two conflict-ridden countries. The majority of significant Syrian rebel groups that have been fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad have rejected Baghdadis declaration. The rebel groups, including the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, have fought the extremist group since the beginning of the year. Nearly 7,000 people, mostly fighters, have died in the infighting. However, Nusra Front appears to be losing the war within a war in Syria as fighters allied with powerful tribes in eastern Syria defect to al-Baghdadis group. On Thursday, a video posted online by activists showed a man in the town of Sheheil, a Nusra Front stronghold, reading a statement, saying: We have decided to declare our allegiance to the Islamic State and the Caliph of the Muslims, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Another video showed what appeared to be fighters in the nearby Ishara village, announcing that they were ceasing their fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The clans of the city of Ishara, and the villages around it ... and all of the factions in these areas ... announce before God that they will cease fighting with the Islamic State, a man says, reading from a statement as he stands in a courtyard with several other tribal elders. The videos appeared to be genuine and matched AP reporting from the area. The Deir el-Zour Coordination Committees, a collective of activists in the area, confirmed that militants had entered the town of Mayadeen and Ishara after other rebel fighters withdrew. Rami Abdurrahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said some Nusra fighters were still clashing with their rivals at the outskirts of Sheheil Thursday, but added that the al-Qaida-linked group appears close to collapse. Led by a Syrian known as Abu Muhammed al-Golani, the Nusra Front is al-Qaidas official branch in Syria and was declared a terrorist group by the United States. Its fighters have been one of the most effective forces against Assads troops, and have carried out suicide bombings targeting government forces in Syrias major cities, including the capital Damascus. Syrias uprising began in March 2011 as largely peaceful demonstrations against President Bashar Assads rule. It escalated into an armed revolt after some opposition supporters took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown on dissent. It then turned into a civil war that has claimed more than 160,000 lives, about a third of them civilians, according to opposition activists. The conflict has displaced nearly a third of Syrias population of 23 million.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 12:28:18 +0000
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